As is very well known, permanent wave is a method of styling the hair in which chemical preparations are applied to the hair to reduce and oxidize the hair so that the hair is set in waves or curls that last for several months.
A conventional permanent wave method involves winding a bunch of hair 1 on a rod (curler) 2 (FIG. 7(A), applying a first permanent wave solution, or a reducing agent 4, to the hair (FIG. 7(B)), and either leaving the hair in this condition under the normal temperature or heating it until it has been reduced, or softened. Then, a second permanent wave solution, or an oxidizing agent 5, is applied to the hair 1 (FIG. 7(C)), and the hair is left in this condition until the hair has been locked in the curled pattern.
Before the hair is wound on the rod 2, the end of the hair is covered with an end paper 6. The end of the hair is first held to the rod, and then the hair is wound on the rod. It is a usual practice.
Also, usually, as indicated above and as shown in FIG. 7(B), the reducing agent 4 is applied to the hair by using an applicator after the hair has been wound on the rod.
With the conventional permanent wave method, however, the reducing agent is applied to the hair after the hair has been wound on a rod and, hence, it is not easy to exactly apply a required amount of reducing agent to the hair and, therefore, reduction reactions may proceed at different rates in the different bunches of hair. Thus, the different bunches of hair may be permed into different curled patterns.
Also, since the reducing agent is applied to the hair already wound on the rod, some of the reducing agent gathers in the end paper 4, so that the end portion of the hair may be treated excessively. In addition, if an excessive amount of reducing agent is on a portion of the hair due to the gathering of it in the end paper, the oxidizing agent does not readily get fixed to that portion and, thus, the hair is not locked sufficiently in the curled pattern at that portion, with the result that that portion of the hair is very likely to be damaged.
Moreover, with the conventional permanent wave method, when the hair gets wound on a rod, the hair is still relatively hard as it is not yet reduced at this point of time. So, as shown in FIG. 8, winding the hair on the rod is likely to produce cracks 8 or strains 9 in the cuticle of the hair. Hair with cracks or strains may lose its gloss or softness by being permed.